THE DAILY BLADE: Minneapolis-St. Paul To Get Tough With Muslim Hacks Who Refuse Service To Passengers On “Religious” Grounds
Officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport asked the Metropolitan Airport Commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend the airport licenses of Muslim cab drivers who refuse service to passengers carrying alcohol or accompanied by service dogs. Each month, some 100 people are denied cab service at the airport on religious grounds, and the problem is getting worse, according to airport officials.
Drivers would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and revoked for two years after the second offense. The cabbies would be subject to the new penalties by May 11, when airport taxi licenses are scheduled for annual renewal.
Last year, the Metropolitan Airport Commission received a fatwa from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota that forbade taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol so as to avoid "cooperating in sin according to Islam."
"Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean," Hassan Mohamud, imam at Al-Taqwa Mosque of St. Paul, tells The Associated Press. Mohamud, who is also director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, plans to petition airport officials to reconsider their proposal.
The First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one’s religion. It does not guarantee the right to drive a hack, or to refuse service to someone of a different faith, or to refuse service to someone who needs the assistance of a guide dog. Muslim immigrants to the US are clearly unfamiliar with the American concept that "Your rights end where mine begin." For more than 230 years, this guiding principle has protected our uniquely ecumenical and pluralistic country from the sectarian, ethnic and racial strife Muslims finance, stoke and engage in worldwide.
Instead of trumpeting trumped-up charges of "anti-Muslim backlash," The Stiletto thinks the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) would better serve the Muslim community in America by educating them on religious tolerance, respecting the rights of others and showing compassion to a blind person shivering in the chill of the Minnesota winter waiting for a taxi driver who will take him and his dog home from the airport.
The Three Faces Of Ford
Considering his tenure was a scant two years, and his most notable act as president was to pardon his predecessor, Gerald Ford’s death sparked surprisingly diverse assessments of the man and the statesman:
† The Good: In a soaring tribute to a modest man, Gerald R. Ford was remembered on Tuesday as bringing the ordinary virtues of decency, integrity and humility to mend a broken government after the pain of war and scandal. … [Washington National Cathedral’s] grand setting and the pomp of a state funeral provided a counterpoint for the unassuming character praised by the eulogists.
† The Bad: Ask the average reporter or commentator to pass quick judgment on somebody who just died and as likely as not they'll reach for something that combines lukewarm praise with an appropriate cliché. … When assessing the sons and daughters of that great flyover territory known as the Midwest, the formula suggests pale platitudes about honor, honesty, and being decent, as long as the word means "adequate" and "just enough to meet the purpose."
† The Ugly: One expects a certain amount of piety and hypocrisy when retired statesmen give up the ghost, but this doesn't excuse the astonishing number of omissions and misstatements that have characterized the sickly national farewell to Gerald Ford. … [D]uring his mercifully brief occupation of the White House, this president had:
- Disgraced the United States in Iraq and inaugurated a long period of calamitous misjudgment of that country.
- Colluded with the Indonesian dictatorship in a gross violation of international law that led to a near-genocide in East Timor.
- Delivered a resounding snub to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at the time when the Soviet dissident movement was in the greatest need of solidarity.
Instead, there was endless talk about "healing," and of the "courage" that it had taken for Ford to excuse his former boss from the consequences of his law-breaking.
Trackbacks
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February 8, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
Mike Chor, owner of a Twin Donut franchise on Hunts Point Avenue in the South Bronx decided to jump-start traffic with a Grand Opening special menu that included chicken legs, wings, breasts and thighs to its menu and pricing the food 50 cents cheaper than the Kennedy Fried Chicken franchise next door. After sales fell 30 percent, the chicken store owner, Kabeer Ahmad, thought the sky was falling. So in the wee hours of the morning on New Year’s Day he punched a hole in the wall separating the two establishments using a hammer, then sprayed gasoline into ... -
February 9, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
More than 3,600 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) or Homeland Security Department airport security uniforms and badges have been lost or stolen over the past five years, The Washington Times reports. Most of the items are thought to have been lost or misplaced, according to TSA spokesperson Amy Kudwa. The TSA requires employees to report a missing badge or uniform to a supervisor, who is then to notify local law enforcement – but only if the item is believed to have been stolen. Kudwa tells the paper that missing uniforms and badges cannot be used by terrorists to gain ...
Regarding the Muslim hack drivers: though I do stick up for Muslims from time to time, the airport is absolutely correct on this one. I'd dearly like to see published the numbers of the cabs whose drivers refuse service so consumers could refuse to ride in those cabs.
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